Snark Week Book Blogging Challenge – Let it all hang out. Day 1

Snark Week Begins FTW.

Are you ready for this? I don’t think I am, but here we go.

Day 1: Snark Attack! Tell us how you really feel about a particular blogging subject. Let it off your chest. This is your chance to just EXPLODE!

I guess mine isn’t about a particular subject it’s more like a convergence of events and IQ points and attitudes that makes me go crazy.

I’ll start this out with a statement about myself. I know, that I can be a bit judgmental and a bit bitchy. Sorry. I try my hardest to keep my thoughts zipped up, especially when they are rather heated thoughts about touchy subjects. But, sometimes I just can’t help myself. Especially when I’ve been given a pass, like during Snark Week.

And this usually happens when I’m confronted by a certain type of person that possesses qualities that I perceive to be unintelligent, inconsiderate or lazy.

I am usually confronted with this type of person at Wal-Mart, while driving, in line at the DMV and other government service places and finally in the carpool line. Lines usually are the biggest proponent of fostering stupid, inconsiderate and lazy behavior.

But, sometimes these qualities manifest in our blogging niche. And egads, it drives me up the wall.

I find the “Unintelligent” quality manifesting when I read/view a blog post and the blogger decided to post an opinion piece and they haven’t researched their post. They accuse some random person of doing something they didn’t do – or they take a stance on some political or hot topic issue and literally show their ass. Because they didn’t research the topic. Or they are just riding another person’s opinion…that they read somewhere… or caught a random tweet about. They basically just took a talking point that they heard/read/skimmed and then they go off on it. This happens via posts and more often via social networks. How about you research it before you post about it!!!!! Just a suggestion. The fact that you just claimed that this author plagiarized a particular book and then come to find out it was the opposite – well that was just – well yeah. Stupid can manifest in a considerable amount of ways in our blogging niche, but this just happens to be the latest thing that I’ve read that embodies stupid, so I thought I would share. Yup. True story.

Now for the inconsiderate d-bags. These are the people that have only one focus. Themselves. They have some goal in mind and you are a means to an end for their goal. They don’t give two licks about you as a person, they just think that you can do something for them. You can promote their blog – just because they follow you on twitter. And they tweet you that exact statement. They think that because they follow you – you should buy their book. They think that because they are doing your meme – you should do certain things for them. Yeah, I have a certain prominent finger pointing in thier direction. I don’t owe you inconsiderate person anything….please stop emailing me. I will not design your site for free – because you are broke and you have followed me for 3 months. I will not buy your book because it’s just like Twilight. I will not post your Guest Post because you have a baby blog and big blogs need to pay more attention to start-ups.

Finally, lazy. Probably the worst. Mainly because I dated this guy when I was about nineteen. This guys was the laziest son of a goat you’ve ever met. Why I dated him, I have no idea. I was young and stupid (we are all guilty of it!), he wasn’t even hot. I became an OCD neat freak after that relationship ended. And I abhor laziness. Which I’ll give him credit for. Thanks, Mr. Exy Pants, I’m OCD and I have a chronic fear of buffets and you can take the credit. Obviously, he can blame me for not being able to hold on to a relationship and his career goal is getting promoted to head bouncer at the crusty strip club he’s currently employed at (love Facebook). And I take full responsibility. *evil laugh* But, let’s get back to laziness.

Two people are standing in a room. A question is asked to both of them that they do not know the answer. The first person looks around the room, then begins walking up to other people in the room and posing the question to them, hoping they know the answer. The other person pulls out their smart phone and looks up the answer on Google.

Google it.

The lazy bloggers want your ARCs. They want your followers. They want you to answer all their questions. And they think that they deserve it. Instead of looking up publishers on their websites, they would rather email you for your publishing contacts. They would rather go to your site and copy and paste your policies (because it’s just policy text) and use it on their own site.

It’s so okay, they read your blog. You are their mentor.Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

They will take your reviews, rewrite them – so they don’t even have to read the book.

They’ll regurgitate other blogger’s content so they can have tips & tricks. They’ll steal your ideas because they have the creativity of a slug and can’t think up their own ideas. They’ll take your designs and place them in their own portfolios because they’re dumb and lazy and foreign and have no concept of intellectual property. Because they were too lazy to look up copyright rules on the internet. Don’t like lazy people much.

If anything in this post offended you, I’m sorry. Click on any of the images for a sincere apology.

Well, I think that is about it. That was much longer then I expected. Happy Snark Week!!!!! Add your own Snarktastic post here:

About The Author

Rachel, whom you might know as Parajunkee, is the blog owner of parajunkee.com and the design blog parajunkee.net. To make matters even more confusing she is now a published author under the pen name of Gillian Zane. Rachel has been blogging for over eight years, designing / web programming for over fifteen, but her real love, reading, has been her favorite hobby since childhood. Rachel has won numerous awards for her writing, the blogs she has created and her design work. If you want to check out more about her books click "The Books" on the navigation bar at the top of the page.

Whew! I bet you feel a lot better now 😉
All those things bug me to no end. I recently had a new blogger ask if she could copy and paste some of my reviews to her site because I was getting better ARCs. It would make her site look good since she was just starting out and all. Um no… but thank you for asking and not just taking… she never did give me her URL, so maybe she did just take. Newsflash– my reviews aren’t anything to write home about– shh, it’s a secret!
Also–publishers & authors–please don’t send me an email with an air of, “I’m doing you an amazing favor by deigning to ask you to review this book”. Yeah, not gonna happen with that attitude. I’m a bit snarky, and quite busy, so pass.
Thanks, Rachel! I feel better now, too.

I’ve had the same thing happen to me, it was early on in my blogging. And yes about the publishers…I mean we are doing you a favor lol – I’m glad you feel better.

Whitney Martin
on August 11, 2014 at 12:40

This was an awesome idea. And I love your topics.
I also hate laziness, especially when I work really hard on lots of blog or book stuff and then have people copy it. I actually had no idea that some people will copy reviews and stuff, that is just crazy. I hope that never happens to me.

I’ve noticed a rise of authors contacting me though. I’m not sure if that is good or not. I’ve also had a few publishers contact me to post stuff on facebook, but they (well one in particular) didn’t even ASK me to do it. They TOLD me to do it. And I was like ummm you could have asked me, and done it nicely and I would have. But I didn’t help that person because that was just not nice at all. 🙂

Thanks for participating Whitney!!! Personally I don’t even check, because when I do find it – it ruins my day/week/month depending on the bloggers reaction.

And yes, totally noticed that they’ve gotten a little pushy lately. They probably think I’m an ass – I just ignore them.

Jennifer @ The Book Nympho
on August 11, 2014 at 11:43

Yeah laziness in general bugs me. I love it when people ask me on Twitter what’s the next book in a said series. Hello, that’s what Goodreads is for. Look it up like I did.

The author thing is horrible. I’ve had authors spam me on Twitter about their book. I’m not going to read or promote it for the fact that you spammed me with it. And you spammed 50+ other blogs on Twitter too. How do I know this…. I looked at your Twitter feed. You sent the same tweet to the other 50+ bloggers. Go to those blogs and read their review quest tabs and submit your book that way. That’s why we have that info.

Ha ha – and I’m the total opposite. I’m such a show-off that I have to go find out the information so I can join into the conversation and not look like I don’t know everything. Oops I spilled my secret. But, yeah I don’t like asking people questions, only if it is to expand on a topic they are talking about.

I’m now blocking and reporting for spam if they do that. I had a PR firm that was doing it on a daily basis – and I was letting it go – you know stigma of a PR firm – but I finally had enough (it took 3 days) and I reported them for spam.
Since I also looked at their feed and noticed that was the only thing they tweeted…I’m sure their account will probably get suspended.

The thing is they probably don’t even know them as bloggers – they just search twitter for “readers.”

Kay @ It's a Book Life
on August 11, 2014 at 10:55

Snark week is such a good idea, it is always nice to have an outlet when you need to get something off your chest. This post is sadly oh so true. I hate when people have really easy simple questions they can just Google for the answer but ask anyway, all the time.

I love the concept of a snark week. It’s a great way to let out what’s bothering you that probably irritates plenty of other bloggers as well. I have seen some of the inconsiderate ones. Especially when being asked to review something.

Thanks for participating. I hope it frees me from a lot of stress and tension lol.

Monique LeBlanc
on August 11, 2014 at 09:47

Thanks for hosting such a great challenge Rachel. I’ve had a few things on my mind that I’ve wanted to talk about lately but didn’t know how to do it without stepping on anyone’s toes. Snark week is the perfect chance to do so.
I agree with you completely on the lazy bloggers. I might not be the most creative person and sometimes I think I need an editor to follow me around =s but I take joy in knowing that the content on my blog is in fact my own. If you don’t want to take the time to research and write your own content, what’s the point of having a blog?

I know! What is the point of having a blog? The thing is – it’s probably ridiculously simple – they can’t read fast enough / review – but want to keep momentum – so they supplement with stolen content. Losers.

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